Binders Guild Book Arts Group Open House, April 27, 2013

If you live in the Milwaukee area and are interested in anything related to handmade, handbound and/or altered books, the Binders Guild book arts group will be having an open house for folks interested in joining the group on April 27, 2013 from 10 am to 12 noon at Mount Mary College. You don't have to be an expert book artist to join.

The group meets in Room 446 of Notre Dame Hall. You can find a map of the campus here: http://www.mtmary.edu/pdfs/purplebars/visitors/campusmap.pdf Enter from 92nd Street and park in Lot B. Follow the sidewalk to the covered walkway between buildings #1 (Notre Dame Hall) and #2 (Caroline Hall) on the map. Turn right to use the side entrance to Notre Dame Hall and take the stairs or elevator to the 4th floor. (Room 446 is near the elevator on that side of the building.)

Among the projects that group members are working on with a goal of putting on a show at Mount Mary in the fall of 2014:

• Abecedarium (ABC book)
• Curiosity Box
• 12 x 12 Canvases for the theme "Opposition & Unity"

You can find the group blog here:
http://www.bindersguild.blogspot.com/
And a Pinterest board for inspiration here:
http://pinterest.com/vintagepix/binders-guild/
And see photos from our 2010 show "Books Unbound" here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vintagepix/tags/booksunboundreception/

(And after the meeting stop by Artist & Display, just a block away, for their April in Paris Art Event from 12-3 pm.)

Very Tiny Art

This winter my friend Mel Kolstad invited me to participate in an exhibit she was organizing to benefit the Foundation Fighting Blindness, entitled "Through Mia's Eyes." In 2011, Mel's niece Mia was diagnosed with Stargardt's disease, a hereditary condition that left her legally blind in a very short time. She is still able to see color, shapes and light, and Mel asked artist friends to make quarter-inch square art, the tiny size giving viewers a sense of the difficulty Mia now has in seeing her world. Just working on the tiny squares was a challenge, and when Mel first handed me the 1/4" chips, I asked, "What the heck am I supposed to do with these?!"  (When we were looking at these at the March Milwaukee ATC meeting, someone dubbed them "quinchies" for quarter-inchies.)

I finally decided on collage using the smallest faces I could find, portraits cut from postage stamps. I used my thinnest paint brush to add some lines and color, and I cut fine print text from a vintage book to glue around the edge. The hardest part was not being able to see clearly what I was doing, not to mention dropping my tiny pieces or having them stick to my fingers while I was working. (I ended up manipulating everything with with the tip of an X-acto blade, because my fingers were just too big and clumsy!)

The portraits and text from left to right:
Lucy Stone - "don't keep quiet"
Queen Elizabeth II - "not an old lady"
Grace Kelly - "look in her eyes"

The show "Through Mia's Eyes" will run April 16-June 1, 2013 at the Gallery & Frame Shop in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.
Here's an article about the show in the Fond du Lac Reporter.
And the Pinterest board featuring some of the art that will be in the show.

Museum of Wisconsin Art's New Building

 
My husband and I drove up to West Bend today to drop off my artwork at the Museum of Wisconsin Art, which has a brand new building opening in April 2013. The curator had told me when giving directions that it looked like the prow of a ship and "you can't miss it," and she was right. The building is wedge-shaped, wide on one end and very skinny and pointy on the other.

(That's my husband testing out the sharp edge.)
We didn't get to see much of the interior beyond where we dropped off my art with the registrar, but it looks a lot brighter and spacious than the old building.  We'll be back for the opening weekend, April 6, 2013.  My collage "Once Upon A Time" will be in the Wisconsin Regional Artists Association exhibit there from April 6-June 23, 2013

Valentines & Anti-Valentine ATCs

Belated Happy New Year & Happy Valentine's Day! Life has been busy but I will try to get back to doing more blogging. This past month I made some Valentine & Anti-Valentine ATCs for a Ten Two Studios design team challenge. Three had rotating centers so that they could be both for and against romance. The catch is that you have to have your axis (wire in the one above and string in the two below) exactly centered and firmly attached, or your spinning part will not turn nicely in the opening!

I used the new ATC-sized images that you can buy as a downloadable file at Ten Two Studios and print multiple copies, along with Valentine and Anti-Valentine themed words and Bingo cards.

I didn't have the patience to make more than three of what I started referring to as the Flipping Valentine ATCs, so the rest of my ATCs made for the Milwaukee ATC group's February theme "Love Actually" are more straightforward, with no moving parts!

Warped Milwaukee Fiber Arts Show

I am happy to have my three quilted house squares selected for the 3rd Annual Warped Milwaukee Fiber Arts show organized by the ABK Weaving Center and opening tonight at 6 p.m at the Riverwest Artist Association's Jazz Gallery, 926 E. Center Street in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The gallery hours are Saturdays from 12-5 p.m. and Tuesday nights from 6-9 p.m. (with live jazz on Tuesdays). There may be additional Sunday hours depending on volunteer availability. And on the last weekend of the show, Sat-Sun Dec 1 & 2 the gallery will be open 12-5 with handmade items available for sale from the show's participants.
[Update: Here is the current gallery schedule as of 11/11/2012.]

I won't be able to attend tonight's opening as I will be at the Milwaukee Short Film Festival for the premiere of the short western that my husband worked on (and which I participated in last spring when they filmed in South Dakota). But if you are in Milwaukee on Nov. 24, 2012, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, to do your shopping at Art Vs. Craft, then swing on up to Riverwest to stop by the Jazz Gallery between 12-5 to say hi to me.

I hope those are enough links to keep you entertained and make up for my not writing a blog post in over a month!

Are You Afraid of the Dolls?

Recently I have posted some doll-related images in my Facebook feed (e.g., Barbie doll head gumball dispenser or the jewelry of Margaux Lange), and my friends who commented reacted either with "That is so cool, I want it!" or "That is so creepy, I wish I could unsee it!" So that was the inspiration for this Ten Two Studios Halloween challenge, my altered Altoid tin Little Shrine of Horrors using a lovely selection of dark and creepy images:
 

So when it comes to creepy dolls, do you fall into the category of "Want them!" or "Make them go away!"??? Feel free to leave a comment below!

If you love creepy dolls, check out the blog of my friend Gary Warren Niebuhr and his Flickr gallery of his mixed media sculptures. Or the studio space of my friend Jessica Poor who has amassed quite the collection of dolls & doll heads to use in her art.

And I recommend the documentary "Of Dolls and Murder" about miniature crime scenes made in the 1930s & 1940s that are still being used to train police detectives.

Beware of the Dolls....

I'm Undead and I Vote!

It is time once again for those of us on the Ten Two Studios design team to meet Lisa Vollrath's Halloween challenge. Since it's an election year and I live in a battleground state, I figured some political ATCs were needed, using zombies, witches and a dapper Day of the Dead gent. The initial theme and color scheme were inspired by Steve Hockensmith's latest novel Cadaver in Chief in which the president of the United States is suspected of becoming a zombie.

Inspiration also came from Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels which feature a plethora of undead characters including Reg Shoe, the first zombie member of the City Watch and an activist for dead rights. From his Fresh Start Club, we get the slogan "Undead Yes, Unperson No." Pratchett also wrote Equal Rites about a girl who inherits a wizard staff but is told that women can't be wizards.

Although apparently claims of the dead voting are more myth than reality, shouldn't the dead be allowed to vote if they can get themselves to the polls on time? Just think of the years of experience that the undead might bring to elected office! After all, being dead is only the beginning!